Mechanism for unwinding mill rolls



Patented Jan. 14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MECHANISM FOR UNWINDING MILL ROLLS Application March 10,

18 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism for unwinding mill rolls and has for its object to provide an improved. construction, combination, and arrangement of parts in. adevice of this: character suitable for use with heavy paper-handling machinery sucln for example, asmachines for manufacturing corrugated paper boards.

The primary purpose of my invention is to relievecertain parts which operate upon a continuous web drawn from a heavy mill roll from undue stress which would otherwise produce an undesirable drag and resultant injury to the product. More especially, my invention has for its objectto produce means of improved construction for unwinding a continuous web froma mill roll and supplying it to the-web-corrugating rolls of a corrugated paper board machine for improving the quality of the product. For this purpose, my invention. contemplates" an improved web-feeding device for unwinding the web from a mill roll without placing undue stress upon that portion of. the web which is at any particular moment passing from the web-feeding, device to the corrugating rolls. My invention further contemplates means of improved construction whereby a desirable amount of strain which is imposed upon the continuous web as it enters between the corrugating rolls may be uniformly distributed across the: width of said web for rendering the corrugations more uniform in respect to form and arrangement.

Particular features in the construction and ar-' rangement of parts for securing the improved 1' sults alluded to above, will be understood from the following description and recited in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing which shows an adaptation of my invention to the co-rrugating rolls of a corrugated board. machine for which it is more especially intended.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of on embodiment of my invention showing an adaptation to the web: corrugating: mechanism of a corrugated paper board machine such as that shown in my copending application Serial No, 721,528, which was filed. inthe: UM S. Patent Ofiice on the 20th day of April, 1934.

Figure 2- is: an enlarged transverse section on the line 2-2 of Figure: 1, parts being broken away and parts in elevation.

According to the embodiment shown on the drawing, my invention contemplates suitable mechanism of improved construction for unwinding a web I from a mill ro'll (not shown on 1934, Serial No. 714,943

the drawing), said webbeing flexed successively in opposite directions as it passes over and partway around a power-driven web-feeding roll 2 and a guide roller 3' after which it passes between an upper corrugating roll 4 and a lower corrugating roll 5'.v A power transmitting train for driving the web-feeding roll 2 may include a spur gear 6 which meshes with a spur gear I mounted on a shaft 8. Keyed to the shaft 8 is a sprocket wheel 9 which is connected by a sprocket chain iii to a smaller sprocket wheel ll, said smaller sprocket wheel being keyed to a short tubular shaft l2 which projects axially from and carries one end of the web-feeding, roll 2. A similar short tubular shaft 13- is connected to and carries the other end of the web-feeding roll 2. The short tubular shafts l2. and [3' are journalled in bearing boxes Hi and [5 for rotatably mounting the Web-feeding roll 2 with its driven sprocket wheel II; The bearing boxes M and [5- are carried by laterally-spaced brackets l6 and H which are secured to the upper portions of laterally-spaced side frames [8. Freely jouri'ialledv in the short tubular shafts l2 and I3 is an oscillatory shaft l9 from opposite ends of which depend bearing links 2!! and 2|. According to the present embodiment of my invention, said bearing link 20 is secured to the oscillatory shaft [9 by means of a set screw 22, the other bearing link 2! be.- ing freely suspended at its upper end from the other end of the oscillatory shaft Hi. The webguiding roller 3 has its opposite ends 23, 23 freely journalled in the depending ends of bearing links 20 and 2! by means of ball bearings 24 which are suitably constructed. andarranged to permit an axial tilting of. the web-guiding roller 3. Mounted on the depending bearing link 2| is a projection or block 25 which is arranged to be engaged by one end of a screw 26 which is provided; with a hand wheel 26a and threaded into the outer end 21' of a radial arm 28. The radial arm 28 is rigidly securedto' the adjacent end of the oscillatory shaft [9 by means of a screw bolt- 29 so that whenever the-screw 26 is turned in the lower end 21 of the radial arm 28, the bearing link 2! is moved angularly about the axis of shaft l9 and relatively to the radial arm 20 for changing the axial tilt of the guide roller 3 with respect to the rotary axis of web-feeding roll 2. The operating connections for driving the Web -feeding roll 2 are suitably constructed to rotate said roll with a peripheral speed in excess of the. velocity of the web I as it passes between the upper and lower corrugating rolls 4 and 5. Due to the free pivotal support of the oscillatory shaft IS in tubular shafts l2 and i3, there is a tendency in the webguiding roller 23 to depend with its rotary axis approximately in a vertical plane through the rotary axis of the web-feeding roll 2. Under these conditions, it will now be understood that if, for any reason, there is appreciable slack in the web I between the mill roll and the corrugating rolls 4 and 5, the web-feeding'roll 2 will not engage the web I with sufficient friction to draw the web from the mill roll. As a result, the unwinding of the mill roll will be momentarily interrupted until the continued rotation of the corrugating rolls 4 and 5 operate to draw the web I into sufiicient frictional engagement with the web-feeding roll 2 to enable this power-driven roll to resume its web-unwinding function for supplying additional web to the corrugating rolls. The general effect of this intermittent activity of the mill-roll unwinding device is to maintain a substantially continuous supply of web to the corrugating rolls under a desirable amount of tension which materially aids the proper functioning of the corrugating rolls 4 and 5. Furthermore, my present invention, by providing means for regulating the axial tilt of the guide roller 23, makes it possible to deliver a continuing supply of web to the corrugating rolls under conditions of stress which are substantially uniformly distributed across the entire width of the web and thus prevents the occurrence of more slack along one edge of the web than along the other edge thereof. For this purpose and. from time to time during the continued operation of the machine, an attendant, after noticing any lack of uniformity in respect to the amount of slack from side to side of the continuous web, may correct the condition by a suitable adjustment of the rotary axis of the guide roller 3.

I claim:

1. In combination with a machine operating on a continuous web, a power-driven web-feeding roll constructed and arranged to operate frictionally on said web and having a peripheral speed slightly in excess of the velocity of the web passing through said machine, a freely journalled webguiding roller arranged to guide said web around a peripheral portion of said web-feeding roll and to hold it in frictional engagement therewith when said web is under tension, and means for varying the angular tilt of the rotary axis of said web-guiding roller with respect to the axis of said web-feeding roll.

2. A machine of the character claimed in claim 1, in which the opposite ends of said guiding roller are journalled in fixed and movable supports respectively, said guiding roller being provided with bearings permitting an axial tilting of the roller in each of said supports.

3. In combination with web-corrugating rolls operating on a continuous web, a power-driven web-feeding roll constructed and arranged to frictionally engage said web, a web-guiding roller freely journalled upon an axis tiltable relatively to the axis of said web-feeding roll, and axiallyspaced hanger arms for said web-guiding roller,

one of said hanger arms being angularly adjustable in relation to the other, said web-guiding roller being tiltably journalled in each of said hanger arms.

4. Mechanism of the character described comprising web-corrugating rolls operating at substantially constant speed, a power-driven webfeeding roll geared to said corrugating rolls and having a peripheral speed slightly in excess of the velocity imparted to the web by said corrugating rolls, and a web-guiding roller freely journalled upon an axis oscillatable about the axis of said web-feeding roll.

5. Mechanism of the character claimed in claim 4, in which means are provided for tilting the 5 rotary axis of said web-guiding roller in respect to the axis of said web-feeding roll.

. 6. Mechanism of the character claimed in claim 4, in which said web-guiding roller is freely journalled in axially-spaced bearing links oscillatably suspended by their upper ends about the axis of said web-feeding roll and having means for adjusting the angular position of one of said hanger arms relatively to the other about the axis of said web-feeding roll.

7. In combination with web-corrugating rolls operating at substantially constant speed, a power-driven web-feeding roll geared to said cor- 'rugating rolls and having a peripheral speed slightly in excess of the linear velocity of a web passing between said corrugating rolls, axiallyspaced hanger arms depending from and oscillatable about the rotary axis of said web-feeding roll, and a web-feeding roll freely journalled in said hanger arms.

8. In combination with web-corrugating rolls operating at substantially constant speed, axially-spaced bearings past which a web moves to said corrugating rolls, a hollow web-feeding roll provided with tubular ends freely journalled in said axially-spaced bearings, operating connections between said corrugating rolls and said web-feeding roll for imparting a peripheral speed to the latter in excess of the velocity of said web passing between said corrugating rolls, an oscillatory shaft extending through said webfeeding roll and freely journalled in said tubular ends, a bearing link depending from and rigidly secured to one end of said oscillatory shaft, another bearing link depending from and pivotally connected to the other end of said shaft, a webguiding roller freely journalled upon a tiltable axis in the depending ends of said bearing links,

a radial arm rigidly secured to said oscillatory shaft adjacent to said pivotally suspended bearing link, and relatively adjustable interengaging parts mounted on said pivotally suspended bearing link and radial arm respectively whereby an angular displacement of one of said bearing links relatively to the other of said bearing links may be provided for tilting the rotary axis of said web-guiding roller with respect to the rotary axis of said web-feeding roll.

9. A power-driven web-feeding roll rotatable about an axis, a roll to which a continuous web 5 is to be delivered by said web-feeding roll, a guide roller constructed and arranged to engage said continuous web intermediately with respect to said web-feeding roll and the second-mentioned roll, and means for rotatably supporting said web-guiding roller, said supporting means being constructed to permit a tilting movement of the axis of rotation of said web-guiding roller with respect to the axis of rotation of said webfeeding roll.

10. A power-driven web-feeding roll journalled about a fixed axis, means oscillatable about said fixed axis of the power-driven web-feeding roll for supporting a web-guiding roller, and a webguiding roller having its opposite ends universally journalled in said oscillatable web-guiding roller supporting means.

11. A device of the character claimed in claim 10, in which said web-guiding roller and oscillatable supporting means therefor are constructed and arranged to remain in a predetermined position of rest with respect to said web-feeding roll in the absence of tension in the web and to be moved out of said position by the tensioning of said web for drawing the web into frictional web-feeding relation to said web-feeding roll.

12. A power-driven web-feeding roll journalled upon a fixed axis, bearing links pivotally mounted about an axis coaxial with the axis of rotation of said web-feeding roll and axially spaced with respect thereto, means partaking of the pivotal movements of one of said bearing links for adjusting the angular setting of the other bearing link with respect thereto, and a web-guiding roller having its opposite ends universally journalled in said bearing links.

13. A power-driven web-feeding roll journalled upon a fixed axis, axially-spaced bearing for said web-feeding roll, an oscillatory shaft coaxial with said web-feeding roll and freely movable in said axially-spaced bearings, a bearing link secured to one end of said oscillatory shaft and oscillatable therewith, a second bearing link pivotally depending from said oscillatory shaft and axially spaced from the first-mentioned bearing link, means for imparting a relative angular setting of the second-mentioned bearing link in respect to the first-mentioned bearing link, and a web-guiding roller having its opposite ends universally journalled in said bearing links,

14. A power-driven web-feeding roll journalled about a fixed axis, an oscillatory shaft coaxial with said roll, a bearing link secured to one end of said oscillatory shaft and oscillatable therewith, a second bearing link pivoted at one end on said shaft and axiallyspaced from the firstmentioned bearing link, a bracket arm secured to said shaft adjacent the second-mentioned bearing link, an adjustable abutment in said bracket arm for imparting a relative angular setting of the second-mentioned bearing link in respect to the first-mentioned bearing link, and a web-guiding roller having its opposite ends universally journalled in said bearing links.

15. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with means operating continuously upon a web supplied thereto at substantially constant linear velocity, of a web-feeding roll arranged to be engaged by said web in its movement from a source of supply to said operating means, means for driving said web-feeding roll at a peripheral velocity in excess of the substantially constant linear velocity of said means operating continuously upon the web, and a webguiding roller freely journalled upon an axis movable about the axis of said web-feeding roll and rotated by frictional engagement with said web, said web-feeding roll being constructed to frictionally engage the web under a predetermined tension therein for drawing the web from said source of supply.

16. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with a web-feeding roll arranged to feed a continuous web from a source of supply, of a web-guiding roller freely journalled upon an axis movable about the axis of said webfeeding roll, said web-guiding roller being arranged in the path of the continuous web after it has passed part-way around said web-feeding roll, web-tensioning means operating on said continuous web at substantially constant velocity 'after it leaves said web-guiding roller and in a plane approximately parallel to the path of the movable axis of said web-guiding roller, and means for driving said web-feeding roll at a peripheral velocity in excess of the substantially constant velocity at which the web-tensioning means operates.

17. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with a web-feeding roll for feeding a continuous web from a source of supply, of a pair of depending bearing links freely pivoted at their upper ends, a web-guiding roller freely journalled in the lower ends of said bearing links, means operating on said continuous web after it has passed over and part-way around said web-feeding roll and said web-guiding roller one after the other, and means for driving said web-feeding roll at a velocity in excess of the velocity of said operating means, said web-guiding roller being displaceable in a rising arc of movement by a tightening of the continuous web due to its forward movement.

18. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with a web-feeding roll for feeding a continuous web from a source of supply, of a pair of bearing links freely pivoted at their upper end about and depending from the axis of said web-feeding roll, a web-guiding roller freely journalled in the depending ends of said bearing links, said web-guiding roller being arranged to engage said continuous web after it has passed over; and part-Way around saidweb-feeding roll, means operating on the continuous web coming from the web-guiding roller and tensioning said web in a plane approximately parallel to the path of the web-guiding roller axis as it swings with said bearing links, and means for driving said web-feeding roll at a peripheral velocity in excess of the velocity of said means operating on and tensioning said web, said web-guiding roller being displaceable by a tightening of the continuous web due to its forward movement for regulating the tension therein.

GEORGE W. SWIFT, JR. 

